Warner Brothers has stated that starting in 2021 all their movies will release to theatres and HBOMax to be streamed for free by HBOMax subscription holders. This includes their own projects and projects they invest in such as DC’s superhero franchise. 

     Wonder Woman 1984 was the first movie to be released this way, the movie didn’t do so well rating wise, receiving a 60% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5/10 on IMBd. And did not perform so well box office wise either, only raking in 131 million dollars globally, even with its 200 million dollar budget.

     Many people fear that this move by Warner Bros. will further contribute to the dying business that is movie theatres. If people have the option to watch these movies at home free of charge why would they go out to the theaters? This has many people concerned, such as Foran alum student Aaron Hostetler, “I feel like all these movies going directly to streaming services is like a sign of changing times. I don’t like that a lot of these movies will be skipping theaters but I feel like this was going to happen eventually, and the pandemic sort of jump started that.”  

     On the other hand many people also feel that this is a better alternative, watching these new movies at home free of charge is more comfortable and eliminates the hassle of going to the theater. Sophomore Dominic Rusu states, “I really don’t care if I can watch it at home or the theater, if I want to see the movie in theaters I can just go, if not I can watch it at home.”

     Many other streaming services and planning to floor in HBO Max’s footsteps and release their news movies free of charge to their subscription holders, one of these services being Disney+, Disney plans on releasing their newest movies to their streaming service as well as theatres, but subscription holders will need to pay an additional fee of $30.00 USD. Disney had already tried doing this with Mulan, a film that costed 200 million dollars to produce, and only raked in 70 million dollars.